Limestone women in midst of best postseason run in school history

Tuesday

Mar 18, 2014 at 11:59 PM

The Saints are headed to the Elite Eight in Erie, Pa.

By ERIC BOYNTONeric.boynton@shj.com

Less than 24 hours after the joyous 75-mile bus ride home to campus, Limestone women's basketball coach Corey Fox was allowing his team a couple of days off before continuing on the most successful run in school history.“It was a happy bus and a little tired, I think, after a long week, but I think they realized what they'd accomplished and they were still excited,” Fox said on Tuesday.The Saints defeated Armstrong Atlantic State, 74-55, on Monday to win the NCAA Division-II Women's Southeast Regional and advance to the first Elite Eight in school history. They are also the first Conference Carolinas member to move past the Sweet 16.“It's a pretty remarkable time,” Fox said. “I think our players are caught up in the moment, but I think they know what's going on and how big this is, so it's real exciting for us and Thursday we'll get back to work and taking it one game at a time.”Limestone (27-5) will play West Texas A&M at noon on Tuesday at the Erie Insurance Arena on the campus of Gannon University in Erie, Pa. Fox wasn't yet sure whether his team would leave Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning with travel arrangements still in the works.West Texas A&M (30-2) eliminated Colorado Mesa, the national overall No. 1 seed, 60-56 on Monday to win the South Central Regional in front of nearly 3,400 in Canyon, Texas.The Lady Buffs' lone two losses this season came 78-64 on Dec. 15 at then No. 3 Emporia State, and 71-69 at Tarleton State on Feb. 19. They have won nine consecutive games in making their fifth appearance in the Elite Eight, first since 2009.Devin Griffin, a 5-foot-10 senior who started 13 games as a true freshman at North Carolina State before transferring, leads with 15.2 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. Junior 5-foot-11 forward/center Chontiquah White averages 14.1 points and 6.8 rebounds and senior 5-foot-9 guard Casey Land averages 8.2 points.The Limestone/WTAM winner will play the winner of Cal Poly Pomona (25-6) vs. Edinboro (Pa., 27-5) at either 6 or 8:30 p.m. on Mar. 26. The championship game tips off at 7 p.m. on Mar. 28. The four on the other side of the bracket are Bentley (32-0) out of Waltham, Mass., vs. Drury (27-3) from Springfield, Mo., and Concordia (28-8) from St. Paul, Minn., vs. Nova Southeastern (27-4) out of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.Limestone has won 14 consecutive games and 20 of its last 22, with Belmont Abbey (who they eliminated Saturday by 16 points) the lone team to beat the Saints in that stretch. Just one of the 14 wins was by less than 10 points (81-75 over King College, the only team to reach 70 points against the Saints over that same span).Limestone junior forward Celestra Warren, a Chicago native who redshirted last year after transferring, leads the team with both 15.3 points and 7.5 rebounds. Another transfer, junior guard Ayisha McNeil, is averaging 13.9 points while freshman guard Jasmine Kearse was named MVP of the regional after scoring 18 points in the championship game.With his team preparing to take a stage with which they are unfamiliar, Fox has no worries about balancing the size of the moment while still focusing on taking care of business.“I think we want both ends of it, when it's not practice time or meeting time, we want to make sure and enjoy the whole experience. I think they've done a tremendous job being able to separate the two. This group's chemistry has allowed them to enjoy themselves, but also been able to get focused and that's been another key going through this process.”